The embarrassment on going back on yourself turning vegetarian

[hypocrittie]

I turned vegetarian two years ago now. I was pregnant and on my works Christmas do exactly two years ago when someone at the table whose husband was a farmer was going into vivid detail about keeping turkeys around Christmas time. It completely put me off my food and I didn't touch any of the meat. It really made me think about my food and over the next few weeks the thought of meat just started to make me feel unwell.

I really like meat, it's not that I don't like the flavour or the textures etc so it was a fairly easy time to turn vegetarian as there were more substitutes out there than ever. I made the switch to meat substitutes and loved it, the Dopsu chicken was just as good but guilt free, no gristly bits or worrying about food poisoning. The fake beef burgers were great, I couldn't really tell the difference. Some really good fake meat sausages. I didn't feel like I was missing out on anything so I didn't look back.

It is now two years later and I've been trying to focus more on my health, and I started to get in my head about how all of the fake meat I'm eating. Being vegetarian is one thing if you just eat lots of vegetables, which I do, but there's almost always fake meat alongside it. I started to think if I'm going to be eating any kind of meat, do I want ultra processed fake meat or like, organic chicken breast? So I started eating just chicken again.

I've kept that up so far, but to be honest it was fine. It no longer makes me feel sick at the thought of it, and I do wonder how much of it might of been a pregnancy aversion.. I do care about animals and their welfare and hate the thought of contributing to their suffering but I also care about my health and have become too aware of how processed the fake meat is.

I just feel embarrassed really, like no matter what I do I'm being a massive hypocrite. Has anyone been here? I'm also severely anaemic now, it started in pregnancy but didn't go away so I wonder how much diet plays a part. Iron tablets don't agree with me!

I don't like eating meat substitutes so try and use pulses and dairy for protein. I much prefer it.

However, if you want to reintroduce meat, why not try and have a few meat based meals using higher welfare products?

I have been vegetarian for more than 30 years and I dont regularly eat any fake meat - Maybe 1-2 times a month at most. Obviously you can eat what you like but maybe consider trying more typically vegetarian food without any fake meat. Lots of the recipe boxes do vegetarian meals and the recipes are available on their websites, also the vegetarian society has lots of recipes too. Have you tried spatone or iron gummies?

I would just say that you’ve thought about it and going forward you are going to eat ethically raised meat, just less of it, as all the UPF wasn’t making you feel great. That’s a perfectly reasonable position, especially in this age of flexitarians.

I’d agree you don’t want to return to factory farmed rubber chicken, so just eat more pulses and stuff around a modest about of good quality meat and fish.

As a bonus you will easily be able to tell the difference between good quality meat and the fake stuff.

You're over thinking no one cares that much just say you're trying something new or it wasn't working for you so you made a change

Just say it wasn't working for you. No one will really care anyway tbh

Is that you Pam? 😂

There are so many people I know who have switched between being veggie, vegan and eating meat...and gone back and forth. No-one gives it a second thought.

The only people I would call hypocrites are those that have tried lecturing others on their choices and attempted to influence them to switch. In reality, this is much less common - friends will say they switched for ethical reasons if asked (otherwise not comment at all), and sometimes switch back but eat less of the dairy/meat.

I am veggie and have never eaten meat but in your shoes, I would pick ethically raised meet over the UPF crap. I hardly touch the latter

Sounds like your conscience is where a lot of this is coming from, not people outside you. Maybe take this as impetus to make a resolution to eat vegetable-based meals from now on instead of depending on fake meat? I think most of us have been there in the early days of our vegetarian/vegan journey, the meat "alternatives" look so shiny, but realistically you want to be eating them no more often than 1-2 times a week. Also, try to look for things that are vegetable burgers rather than "the realest real of all the real fake" burgers (and sausages etc).

@Miloandfreddy 😂😂😂😂😂

😂

Maybe just look at it from the point of view you are doing what you feel is best for your health. You could be mindful about where your meat comes from in terms of a more ethical source. Try and source meat where the animal only has one bad day - so grass/pasture fed and living a good life until its slaughter.

Forgot to say I was a vegan and went back to meat eating and never bothered what anyone had to say.

Nobody should be concerned enough to comment what someone else is eating.
Like you, I don’t like the thought of animals suffering, I also what might be wrong with them before being eaten. DH and DD eat meat- buy only high welfare, free range, organic and plant butter/milk.

A friend is vegan simply because she doesn’t want to eat dead things- she will happily wear fur and is open she is not bothered by the suffering caused.

It’s a choice, you don’t have to keep eating a certain food group, but it goes both ways. Just because you choose to eat meat it shouldn’t matter if someone else does not.

As a simple-minded omnivore, I don’t get it. Logically, if you are going to call yourself a vegetarian, that means you don’t eat dead animals on principle. Full stop. End of.

Subsequently going back on that & deciding that you are going to eat dead animals after all, or eat some dead animals & not others, makes you look like the sort of politician whose ‘principes’ change every five minutes.

My friend who was vegetarian for 40 years recently started eating meat. She just makes a joke of it and says she caved in to bacon sandwiches. No one judges her for it, though she was never preachy about being veggie.

You can eat meat more ethically by choosing free range etc. It's more expensive but you can choose to eat less of it. I doblame you for giving up fake meat its terrible stuff.

In the first few months of pregnancy eating any ‘chunks’ of meat absolutely turned my stomach. I was eating a pie, took one bite and couldn’t even look at the rest of it on my plate. It took a few weeks to pass and then it was like it never happened. I’d imagine if I was told a vivid story about life on the farm while at dinner (who does that?! Pretty rude to do it during a meal)I’d have been put off for longer.

Don’t worry about what other people think. Eat what you want and what makes you comfortable. Anaemia can leave you feeling so lethargic so make sure you address it and look after yourself.

As nicely as possible, no one cares OP. Honestly. Eat what you want to eat. Everyone is on a spectrum, in terms of their meat eating, or lack of. Some years you could swing either way. Some people are steady. Unless you were a vegetarian preacher, no one will care.

I have a family member who did this. The only thing that was a bit irritating is she once made a bit of a virtuous fuss about how long she'd been veggie for (a couple of years) but when she started eating meat again there was no comment made and its never been mentioned.

But by and large I'd say the only person you are answerable to is yourself.

Who are you embarrassed in front of? Yourself? Or has someone else commented?

I did the same thing, I worked at a place that made meat pies and quite quickly became vegetarian because... well... you can use your imagination! Once I'd left that job though it was just a habit and I found myself missing meat more and more. I felt like people thought I was being all virtuous and ethical but it was more that I had been grossed out by the meat pie situation and that put me off. Anyway, I gradually went back to chicken like you, and now I eat anything.

I felt a bit like you do, but I was only embarrassed for me - nobody else gave a shit. Just get on with it and set your own boundaries - I won't eat lamb at all for example, but again, nobody else cares.

The only people I would call hypocrites are those that have tried lecturing others on their choices and attempted to influence them to switch.

Completely agree with this. I’ve been a vegetarian for nearly 19 years and could never go back on this because I am veggie for moral reasons. I have been through periods of severe anaemia but make sure I take iron tablets instead.

I only explain my reasoning to others when they directly ask me. I have known a few (really not many) veggies who were preachy about it and then changed back to meat-eating and I did laugh to myself. It’s still their choice though.

I'd been veggie for years and then switched to eating meat, then vegan, then veggie again. I hope no-one thought I was a hypocrite and I like to think that it's okay to learn new things that change our perspective (for me it was learning more about British farming that made me start eating dairy/ eggs again).
If you want to eat meat again then do - people are too interested in their own lives to care and if they do judge you then they're not good people to be around.
Far worse to be someone who absolutely will not change and only ever reads or talks about things that fit their world view.

Just call yourself a flexitarian and get on with it.

Went vegan about 30 years back. And it forced my hand as there weren't really fake products about back then, other than TVP. Had to learn how to cook. And that's been a blessing. I can knock up a burger using left overs in about five minutes. I've had friends go the substitute but no vegetable route! Let's face it, it's easy to eat badly, you can get into bad habits. I've friends that only eat meat at the weekend, and do pretty much vegan during the week. Which is pretty much how people used to live. Meat at the weekend/special occasions and then use the stock and scraps in further veg meals during the week. It is a luxury product. For iron try molasses or full sugar, and always have hummus at hand, as chickpeas are good. I even throw chickpea flour in every loaf I make, or something with a little more nutrition that bleached white flour. Pulses are good. Sprout them for salads and easier digestion. My first foray into vegetarianism ended with me falling off the wagon, but back then everyone was against the idea. I had no support. I just never could quite look at meat the same way and it did my head in.

Please don’t do this. It makes it harder for actual vegetarians because people assume you eat chicken or fish or sausages because ‘they know someone else who does’.

Just be a meat eater who occasionally enjoys veggie food or is trying to cut down on meat consumption.

I grew up omnivore, went veggie, then vegan, and am now veggie again. I do get what you mean OP and I feel that too sometimes. but I dont think I was a preachy vegan and basically no one cares. I suspect my SIL would like to say 'I told you so' but I dont see her really ever anyway.